A group of about 150 volunteers helped find a “missing” aircraft Saturday.
The exercise was one held periodically by the Kansas wing of the Civil Air Patrol.
Saturday’s drill — based out of Allen County Airport — had teams of volunteers searching for a hypothetical plane crash. The plane had gone missing while en route from Rapid City, S.D., to Branson, Mo.
The scenario spelled out that radar contact for the plane was lost while it was near Alma, southeast of Manhattan.
That meant aircraft sent out from Allen County had to methodically cover land from Alma to Branson. Four planes, three from Kansas and one from Missouri, criss-crossed the area before detecting the emergency beacon signal.
From there, ground units were dispatched with their own homing signals to find the aircraft — in this case, a wooden plane silhouette hidden in a field south of Fort Scott.
Other hypothetical targets were hidden across the area, including two near Iola, said Arthur Grover, Salina, a missions safety and public affairs officer for the volunteer force.
“We’ll do exercises like this three or four times a year,” Grover said. “They set up these exercises to be as real as possible.”
Saturday’s event was, by all accounts, a success.
The missing aircraft was found by mid-afternoon, Grover said, as were the other targets set up.
The key to the success is teamwork and communication, Grover said.
“It went well,” he said. “They did what they were supposed to.”
The air crews, for example, mapped out the grids in which they would search prior to takeoff, while the ground forces assembled to respond quickly once the beacon was located.
PERHAPS BEST known for its search-and-rescue efforts, the Civil Air Patrol flies more than 85 percent of all such missions in the United States. According to the group’s website, nearly 100 people are saved each year by CAP members.
As an auxiliary unit of the U.S. Air Force, the Civil Air
Patrol relies on volunteers of all ages — some as young as 12.
The patrol also is relied upon for disaster relief, humanitarian services and to assist federal efforts to stop drug smugglers.
